If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

I tell you what, that moment when I first got him in the binocs with those heavy, curved fronts and thick main beams, is etched on my brain forever. Translate: Drop the binocs immediately, and figure out how to get to shooting position ASAP.

To make a long story short, this is a sage/prairie/breaks region, with cedars in the draws. It is tightly limited, but don't let that fool you, these elk are skiddish esp. after the deer hunters look around for a few days. Finding a good elk requires LOTs of glassing from looking into the cedars 100 yds away to looking in the crannies and cedars at 2 miles.

The first day we saw a couple of mature bulls but it just didn't work out, both had cows with them and the older cows had seen this game before and led the way out of there before we could make a move. Then, we didn't even see an elk that afternoon. No bugling either.

First light 2nd day, this bull was laying low in the cedars and probably had been for a while. The site of him surprised us at about 225 yds. He was with a smaller bull and luckily (no cows) they just tried to hide and sneak up and out instead of bailing quickly. It took a couple of minutes but I finally got the broadside shot. Shots, that is. After he laid down out of site the smaller bull got curious and walked right up to him and nearly got poked with an antler when he got close. That's how we knew the big one was still laying down.

Well, he got up about a minute later and we had about an 18" window where his mane met the shoulder. I waited until the pulse got down to maybe 120, squeezed, and that's all she wrote.